


Dwindling

by BunniesofDoom



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blake Belladonna Needs a Hug, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Ruby Rose (RWBY) Needs a Hug, Spoilers: Volume 8 (RWBY), Team as Family, Volume 8 (RWBY), Weiss Schnee Needs a Hug, healthy communication is my kink, someone get these girls some therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 08:54:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29257803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunniesofDoom/pseuds/BunniesofDoom
Summary: "She's not dealing with what's happening very well, is she."
Relationships: Blake Belladonna & Ruby Rose, Blake Belladonna & Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna & Yang Xiao Long, Ruby Rose & Weiss Schnee
Comments: 1
Kudos: 61





	Dwindling

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little something following the latest episode that I had to write down before I could sleep. I apologize for any inaccuracies, as I refused to let myself watch the episode more than once because believe it or not, I do actually want to sleep sometimes. Spoilers for episode 8 of volume 8 ahead. Enjoy!

Their shock over what was inside the Grimm is quickly replaced with fresh shock when Ruby's eyes suddenly roll back in her head and she collapses to the ground gracelessly.

"Ruby!" Weiss yelps. Blake lunges forward, barely managing to catch the younger girl before her head hits the ground. "What happened?" she asks urgently, crouching next to Blake.

"The hound got her earlier," Blake explains. "Her aura broke."

Weiss swears under her breath. "We should get her upstairs, let Kline take a look at her." Blake nods, pushing herself to her feet and balancing Ruby carefully in a bridal carry. "Whitley and I will get Penny," Weiss announces, gesturing at the redhead, who is still lying at the bottom of the stairs. She hasn't moved since she fell, just staying limp and motionless like a puppet with its strings cut.

It's not a pleasant mental image, especially given the way that Penny seemed to be struggling with being controlled by an outside force. Blake shakes her head to clear her thoughts and makes her way up the stairs to Weiss' room. The redhead doesn't stir when Blake carefully settles Ruby on the bed next to her, but she does look better now that Kline has seen to her. There's more color in her face, and the scars don't stand out quite so starkly against her pale skin.

Speaking of Kline, he's hovering over Ruby immediately. Blake steps back to let him work on his new patient. Ruby doesn't look great. Her face is pale and drawn, a pained frown etched into her features even in unconsciousness. The circles under her eyes are alarmingly dark, and her face looks thinner. Blake had noticed when she was carrying her that Ruby, despite all her muscle, was ridiculously light and easy to carry.

Their leader hasn't been coping very well lately.

Weiss and Whitley join them a few minutes later, settling Penny down on one of the couches. Whitley quickly departs, claiming that he's going to divert more Schnee family resources to rescuing civilians, while Weiss steps over to Blake's side. For a moment, they watch Kline work on Ruby in exhausted silence.

"Should we—tie her down or something?" Weiss asks quietly, motioning to Penny. She winces as she says it, clearly reluctant to even make the suggestion. "To make sure that—whatever happened earlier doesn't happen again?"

Everything Something about the idea just seems wrong. Blake sighs, shaking her head. "I don't think that'd work. I doubt that we have anything that could hold her. We'll just have to keep an eye on her."

Weiss breathes a sigh of relief at not having to tie up their friend, but she quickly sobers. "Blake," she whispers. "That was a person."

"I know," Blake replies. She's been trying not to dwell on it, but it's all she can think about it.

"A person. Inside the Grimm."

"I know."

"A person with silver eyes."

And hadn't that been a huge shock, once you'd gotten past the shock of the person-inside-a-Grimm thing—as much as you could get past that, anyway. "Yeah," Blake murmurs.

"Do you think—do you think that Salem wants to do that to Ruby?" Weiss always was good at asking the questions no one else wants to.

"I don't know. Maybe." It's a painful thought, their cheerful, precious leader turned into a monstrous creature like that. The younger girl had always seemed so bright, lighting up the world around her with her optimism and energy. Even if that light seems to be dwindling lately.

"She's not dealing with what's happening very well, is she." It's not a question.

"No, she's not," Blake admits. "She was hanging by a thread even before—everything that just happened. I talked to her earlier, tried to get through to her and encourage her, but I don't know how much it helped. And even if it did help a bit, it doesn't fix everything that's wrong." Blake sighs heavily. "I wish Yang were here. I feel like she's better at handling this stuff than I am."

"Maybe. Maybe not." Weiss bites her lip. "I don't know if that would help, Blake. I mean you saw how much tension was between them before we left."

Blake shakes her head. "Yang might be a bit bone-headed sometimes, but she isn't cruel. If she knew that Ruby was in trouble, she wouldn't care what kind of issues they were having, she'd drop everything and help. I just wish I could get through to Ruby the way she always seems to be able to."

"Me too," Weiss whispers sadly. "But just wishing won't make it come true. The question is, what can we do to help Ruby now?"

"Well," Blake says. "If I know Ruby, she'll somehow manage to hold it together through the worst of the crisis, but once this is over, she's going to fall apart. She's been putting this off for way too long. We'll have to be there to catch her when she falls. And we need to get it through her thick skull that she can come to us with her problems before she's completely overwhelmed. It won't be easy, but we need to remind her that we're there for her no matter what."

"Yeah. That sounds like a plan." Weiss smiles softly at Blake. "You know, you're better at this than you think."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please comment and leave kudos if you liked it.
> 
> Also apparently I've written over 80 RWBY fics since I binge-watched the show at the end of August? That sounds fake but that's what AO3 is telling me, anyway.
> 
> Just a reminder that I do take requests for fics, so if there's an idea that you'd like to see me write, feel free to message me and if I like it, I might end up writing something for it.


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